Perspektiven medizinischer Ethik
Ausgabe: 1/2012
58. Jahrgang
Das Menschenbildder Leistungsgesellschaft und die Irritation Demenz
For any modern performance and knowledge based society dementia constitutes an irritation as well as provocation. It challenges established concepts of health and illness, of subject, personality, identity, and autonomy. The author reflects on these concepts and their being challenged by dementia by drawing on insights developed in Christian anthropology. The initial point is a critical reflection on the understanding of consciousness, spirit/mind, and reason. This leads to a critique of any conception of the human person which grounds subjectivity and personality solely in cognitive abilities. Such critique has consequences for the understanding of the autonomy of patients suffering from dementia, discussed in relation to a patients living will. Dementia radically confronts human beings with the experience of loss, dependency, need for help, and passivity, all of which are fundamental aspects of being human. The resulting reflections on the fragmentary nature of human lives ensue further reflections on the ethical sense of resignation as an acknowledgement of our finitude.
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